SAP AG and Adobe have announced the availability and joint delivery of Interactive Forms based on Adobe software as part of the SAP® NetWeaver™ open integration and application platform. The solution extends the value of PDF forms to customers and is available today with mySAP™ Business Suite. Now, SAP customers can increase business agility by automating and streamlining paper-based processes and extend core systems to thousands of users both inside and outside the firewall.

SAP AG and Adobe share a common vision: to automate and streamline the paper-based communications that companies rely on. By integrating Adobe® PDF capabilities into current versions of all SAP applications, Interactive Forms based on Adobe software enables enterprises to generate easy-to-use interactive forms and templates that extend SAP solutions to customers, partners, and suppliers.

For example, financial services providers can easily create interactive loan applications complete with customer names and addresses, and even include mortgage rates based on the customer's credit score and geographic region. Applicants complete the forms at their convenience and return them. The digital forms then automatically update the enterprise's SAP application with new information, eliminating costly and error-prone manual data entry. Interactive forms are easy to use, accessible, and recognizable to users. As a result, if your company is executing a form integration project, you can implement forms-based processes without extensive retraining or support. Using this solution, your enterprise can increase efficiency and reduce the total cost of SAP ownership by leveraging business-critical information in extended forms-based processes to:

• Reach customers with dynamic, personalized, intelligent processes in the common currency of business: forms and documents
  
• Collaborate more effectively with partners and share information in forms and documents more securely and intelligently
  
• Improve internal efficiencies through automated form processes
  
• Provide an auditable form process history and help ensure document integrity to meet demanding regulatory requirements
  
• Maintain and protect document integrity through advanced user controls and document security

Take control of your forms-based processes

Using the Interactive Forms solution, you now can embed business processes into data-rich, interactive documents that accurately mirror the paper forms they represent. You can easily extend your business processes to any user equipped with the free and widely available Adobe Reader® software, enabling users to complete complex forms online or offline and then return the data to an SAP application. Because Adobe Designer software is tightly integrated within SAP developer environments - SAP ABAP™ Workbench and SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio - you can reduce the costs of form design, development, and maintenance. Meanwhile, your organization can experience reduced IT complexity and costs with Adobe Reader for client-side viewing.
Beyond the firewall

The Interactive Forms solution automates key business processes by extending powerful enterprise systems, across customers, business partners, and the workforce. With the reach of Adobe Reader, SAP customers can further enhance data capture and streamline the dissemination of business-critical document processes leveraging the power of Adobe PDF and XML. Whether government to citizen, business to business, or business to consumer, SAP customers can now reach a much broader set of users inside and outside the firewall using Interactive Forms.